Friday, December 08, 2006

Friday 12/07 A.M. Quickie:Bonds, BoSox, Brady Q., Bama and More!

Barry Bonds to stay with the Giants: I hate to be the one to break it to Giants fans who might be disgruntled or annoyed that the team re-signed Barry Bonds (1Y/$16M), but he's the only reason the rest of the country might follow the team next season.

In fact, he makes the Giants THE must-see attraction on the road, not to mention will continue to pack the place at home. His assault on Hank Aaron's career home run record – which he'll presumably top some time next season – is the biggest storyline of the 2007 MLB season.

From a business perspective, the Giants would be insane not to take advantage of it, even if most of the media coverage and fan attention – particularly on the road – will be negative. No such thing as bad publicity, of course. Again, it's the only thing keeping that franchise on the national sports fans' radar.

Meanwhile, with their consistent support of Bonds (and, don't lie, you'd root for him too if he was on YOUR team) through both the MVP seasons and the subsequent PED scandals, Giants fans have earned the right to get the chance to watch THEIR guy break the record. For everyone involved, it was the only deal that made sense.

Otherwise, the MLB Winter Meetings were a huge dud. Oh, there were a few laughable contracts (Gil "55 Mil" Meche), but where was the Manny trade? Where was the Zito free-for-all? MLB has a new split: Instead of "big revenue/small revenue," it's "crazy spender/no-spender."

Oh, wait: Red Sox tampering? If there's one juicy story out of Florida, it's that there are rumors swirling (hardly under-the-radar) that the Red Sox might have done a little tampering with JD Drew opting out of his Dodgers contract and taking a huge deal with Boston. Tracking...

Willie Parker runs for 223 in Steelers romp over Browns: With a franchise as storied as the Steelers, it's pretty amazing to set the single-game record in anything, let alone rushing yards. Willie Parker continues to prove why the NFL Draft is a highly inexact science.

NBA: Suns 161, Nets 157 in 2 OT. I think the score says it all.

College Hoops Parity Watch: As quickly as unbeaten Alabama might rise to No. 4 in the polls, they get waxed by unranked Notre Dame in South Bend. Is it me or is the early-season parity in college hoops stronger than ever? (Is it just that teams are scheduling tougher opponents, looking down the road to impressing the NCAA Selection Committee?)

College Football Awards: I'm not quite sure why Brady Quinn beat out Troy Smith for the Maxwell Award, which is sort of a poor man's Heisman. Maybe Maxwell voters, recognizing that Smith was a Heisman lock, decided to throw Quinn a bone for his career body of work?

(Meanwhile, Penn State LB Paul Poluszny won the Bednarik for best defensive player, for the second year in a row. Interesting split with the Nagurski Award choice, which was Big Ten rival LB James Laurinaitis.)

CFB Coaching Carousel: Miami made a safe (but smart) choice in elevating defensive coordinator Randy Shannon to head coach. Amazingly, he becomes only the 6th black head coach in 1-A college football. Sorry: Amazingly embarrassing for college football.

Meanwhile, WVA coach Rich Rodriguez continues to weigh that offer from Alabama. Doesn't this parallel with a jury deliberation: The longer he takes, the less likely he is to take the job? If he really wanted it, wouldn't he have bolted at the chance? What kind of signal does it send to Bama fans that he isn't tripping over himself to accept?

Arlen Specter vs. the NFL: The Senator wants to look into the NFL's antitrust status, specifically because he doesn't like that he can't get Sunday Ticket on his local cable network (only on DirecTV). Now THAT's a populist stance; what fan doesn't agree with him?

"Ali Rap": There's a new ESPN documentary on tomorrow night after the Heisman show about Muhammad Ali's status as America's pioneer "rapper." I've seen the trailer, and it's phenomenal. (No, I'm not just shilling for my ex-employer.) This ain't SportsCentury, that's for sure. I would rank Ali as the most compelling athlete of all time. You watch him talking and -- even though he's obviously as much showman as spokesman -- you yearn for that kind of authenticity from today's most renowned "look-at-me" athletes.

92 comments:

The Nets-Suns game proves Steve Nash didn't deserve those MVPs because he simply can't play anything that remotely resembles defense. Notice how good Dallas' D was last year and you'll begin to see. The Suns should have won that game in a blowout.

"and, don't lie, you'd root for him too if he was on YOUR team"

I will say this as plainly as possible. I would not, under any circumstances, cheer for Barry Bonds if he were to become a Met. In fact, I'd be so incensed with the Mets for signing the douche that I'd temporarily abandon them for the Yankees, simply because they decided to sign the bastard.

If Bonds was signed by the White Sox, I would immediately sell my season tickets. I don't not want to cheer for an organization that would allow this steroid-fueled asswipe to break Henry Aaron's record in their uniform.

I am glad Bonds went back to the Giants, I think it actaully makes it less likely he breaks Hank Arron's record this year. We all saw last year how much trouble age and injuries where cuasing him and now that he will have to play in the field again I think it will hurt his production.

Arlen Specter is one republican who I can actually agree with something on. And goes back to something I said a couple of weeks ago in hoping that the cable Networks that do not have the NFL Network hold out until the NFL allows them to have the Sunday Ticket Package. Does the NFL realize how much money they are losing out on by not having the package available for Cable Subscribers.

I was surprised that Quinn won the Maxwell. I figured that Quinn would win the QB award and Smith would win the Maxwell. Although looking at the past few Maxwell award winners... it appears its an award for the Heisman runner-up.

There was an NFL game last night??? Here's the thing that bothers me about it, I get the NFL network on digital cable, but the company won't carry the games because the NFL wants 500,000 more for the games. That's just greed.

My guess is the NFL will cave to the cable price demands for the NFL network and divert attention from their stupid deal with DirecTV for the Sunday Ticket, as it becomes more and more apparent that the cable companies aren't going to cave and NFL is not winning over the popular support on this. Hell, if NFL network was on my cable I would watch football on Thurs night, but I'm not going to call my cable company in outrage that they're not caving into a ludicrous price demand from the NFL. (and if the NFL does chage it's price demand for now, look for it to escalate over time (i.e. people not in the habit of watching games on Thurs night now will be outraged if they start watching it and then have to go cold turkey in the future)).

And thanks for the love for Willie Parker (not to mention the O-line!!!). The steeler's run game (actually every facet of their game) has been woefully inconsistent this year (hence 6-7, out of the playoffs), but when they're on, they are still a powerful team to watch. Look forward to seeing if they are 'on' against the ravens...

1. I guess being able to catch any pass from Reggie Ball makes you deserving of the Belitnikoff. Congrats Calvin.

2. If Willie Parker did that more often, I might be in my fantasy football playoffs.

Now I don't mean to sound cruel, but in my opinion, the lack of minority coaches is something the media creates just to have something to talk about. Consider this: Other than Randy Shannon, the top head coach prospets in the college world according to various media outlets were Butch Davis, Steve Mariucci, Greg Shiano, and Jim Grobe, none of whom are minorities.

The media consistantly tells us about the top candidates (who are almost always white) and then say its a travesty how there arent enough minority coaches.

I'm not saying the lack of minority coaches isn't a problem (it is if they aren't being hired because of their race), but the media is exhibiting constant hypocracy on this topic.

I don't doubt that Randy Shannon is a great coach (and minority hiring is great for the sport), but wouldn't they have done better to clean sweep the leadership of a team that is so clearly screwed up?

Shannon is going to need some very strong "that was then, this is now" talk for a while.

Jason - My point exactly. Kidd isn't that good. And any team that gives up 157 isn't winning an NBA title.

Arlen Specter is the man. Wait, did I just say that? TMQ has a great perspective on the anti-trust exemption the NFL currently has and how stupid they would be to risk it on the satelite monopoly of Sunday ticket. I think the NFL caves on this point. But as for the NFL network - no way they cave. They have no reason to cave. If no one watches those games, oh well. Fans will be pissed, but not at the NFL - the price difference is about 70 cents per household. Cable companies already "rape" the consumer. Look for the NFL to hold steady, even if a deal doesn't get done for this season.

The NFL has done much better at addressing the race inequality for coaching than the NCAA. The real problem is that major programs are guaranteed a certain number of wins, so that people can talk themselves into Weis being better than Willingham before he actually is.

Why is it a monopoly not to share the Sunday Ticket, but it isn't monopoly that only EA can make NFL videogames?

I want to make this clear: there are 4 networks plus the NFL network showing games, and there is an optional package to view all the game available only through one outlet.

But there is only one company who can make NFL videogames, and they charge more money than when there were several NFL games, so they HAVE hurt the consumer. This is a much better case for antitrust action, and it hasn't happened, so Sunday Ticket and NFL network isn't going anywhere.

Personally I think the NFL caves since they are worried about the almighty dollar when the advertisors come back and say you are not giving us the audience you promised for the amount of money we are paying so we want a reduced rate or we are pulling the contract.

Solom - I mean no disrespect, but I assume you are not an attorney nor have you studied antitrust law. I'll give you the short, short version - NFL can choose to sell the use of its logos to whoever it wants. EA has the sole right to use the NFL and its teams in video form. But everyone can access Madden. Not everyone can purchase Direct TV. If you are around trees or big buildings, you physically cannot receive the signal. Thus, the NFL is excluding consumers to view their product (best games on TV) while enjoying the statutorily authorized benefits of an antitrust exemption. That's a no-no.

and, don't lie, you'd root for him too if he HAD BEEN PLAYING ON YOUR TEAM FOR THE LAST 14 YEARS

I have to admit, if he had been on my team for so long I wouldn't stop rooting for him just because he's close to breaking a record.

Look at the Bay-Area fans. They all root for him like he's their first born son. He's the only reason that their franchise has been good in the last 15 years. Just ask the Pirates fans how they've done since he left.

I think the reason college don't hire more African-American head coaches is because they don't want to look like Notre Dame and soon-to-be Mississippi St. Meaning: You hire a black coach and everyone applauds. But if you struggle and fire them before their contract is up, you look racist.

Completely agree with cmfost, if he had been with my team for as long as he's been with the Giants and what he's done for the franchise it'd be hard to just turn on him. He's not the only person over the past 20 years who has taken steroids. Still, I can't stand the piece of shit.

Oh HELL no. Outside of San Fran, Bonds is the type of guy that would make people STOP rooting for their teams were he to join them...it would piss a lot of people off. I understand the longevity factor for Bonds in San Fran, which is why it would have been incredibly stupid for him to go anywhere else. They decided long ago that they love him, no matter what, and he'll never get anything close to that kind of acceptance anywhere else.

Next season will be mind-numbingly predictable as far as Bonds goes. 1) He'll be old, and injured, which will stretch out the home run chase insanely even with relatively few to go to get the record. 2) He'll be viciously and unceasingly booed, taunted, and borderline assaulted (i.e., people throwing things at him, etc.) everywhere outside of the San Fran city limits. 3) People inside the San Fran limits will continue to support and defend him. 4) ESPN will track Bonds' every move and potential move in minute enough detail to make me want to stab my eye with a pencil when I watch SportsCenter. 5) When he finally does it, it won't be nearly as big a deal as he, the Giants, or the media thinks it will be.

To me, the real wild card with Bonds is Aaron. The guy's straight class, so I suppose this is unlikely, but I'm interested to see if he'd go after Bonds publicly and throw him under the bus, anything in the "He's probably a cheater and doesn't deserve my record" vein. THAT would be interesting and entertaining.

Go Arlen.

Ali Rap -- this honestly looks more than a little...odd. I guess Sportscenter is trying to push things and do something unusual. I really enjoyed Klosterman's article on it yesterday, though he seemed to be undermining it and its premise while supposedly promoting it.

No sport is more muddled by convention than football. This may be at the heart of the issue when it comes to the dearth of black coaches in the NCAA Div I ranks. I find it hard to believe that athletic directors and college presidents are aware of race when they hire a coach. But there is something going on. It makes little sense than there are only 6 coaches when blacks make up, what, 15 percent of the population of the nation? There should be about 15 more, if art reflects reality...

Bonds - no one would have rooted for him anywhere else. That's why he's still a Giant.

...whatever, i'm an orioles fan, i'll take what i can get. one player does not make a team. i still have my rafael palmeiro jersey, i've come to terms with it. if i haven't given up on my team for any other reason in the past 15 years, i can't see myself up and stopping just b/c bonds is on it. i'm not going to give the guy a standing O or anything, but my team is my team.

Can someone please provide any evidence (stats, opinion, conjecture - I would just like SOMETHING at this point) why Darren McFadden is on the player-of-the-year award top 5s, but Ian Johnson isn't even getting a sniff? Both Sophs, Johnson played in all of his games, scored 10 more TDs, had more yards with a better per carry average and his team went undefeated. Anyone...anyone?

I don't think people look at race as much as it appears - i think the effects of racism over the past 30 years is effecting the experience of current black head coach prospects. What i mean is that you can't hire a head coach without extensive experience and due to inequalities over the past 30 years, current black coaches have not had the opportunities that many of their white counterparts have had. I think a more telling sign would be the make-up of coordinators, assistants etc. In the coming years, as these black coaches gain experience they will see more jobs open up to them. I think racism has caused much of the disparity but may not currently be the direct cause for the lack of coaches.

I also agree that if you want people to stop caring about the race of the coach you can't cry racism if they get fired for underperforming. The outcry for Ty Willingham's firing at ND after underperforming terribly (the consistency of the team was the biggest problem - beat a good team, lose to a bad team, come out flat...) was uncalled for - it wasn't a race issue, it was a performance issue, and if black coaches want the opportunities they need to accept responsibility when they fail and the media needs to respect the right of the school to hold them accountable.

I could care less about people not getting NFL sunday ticket, and not getting NFL network. I subscribe to directv. I get both. Not my problem. If you live in a building and can't get directv, talk to management about putting a dish on the roof for the entire building. When i lived in a condo the homeowners association decided to do that to give people a choice. Imagine that.

I would like to know if anybody watched the same thing I did last night. 9:00 on ESPN2 was the Old Spice High School Showcase. Featuring the rare #1 vs. #2 matchup. #1 Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va) and #2 Norcross (Atlanta, Ga) being played at Georgia Tech.

This game was incredible. Highlights everywhere. The announcers said that it's likely that all of the starting 5 for each team will eventually start on a BCS conference team by their sophmore year at the latest.

The best player for Oak Hill, who moved to 11-0 and kept their #1 ranking, was named Nolan Smith. His dad was Derrick Smith who played for Louisville and then in the NBA and was an assistant coach for the Wiz. That kid was incredible. Did it all; Played D, shot the 3, drove the lane, passed well. Unfortunetly he's going to Duke.

This was only the first of 10 high school games ESPN is doing this year. I really can't wait to see OJ MAYO play.

I have no idea what point you are/aren't trying to make. What I get out of your little thing there, though, is that you don't blame schools and you think they are somehow unaware of race when they hire coaches. And I'm pretty sure you're wrong. Steven Colbert might not see races, but it's hard for everybody else to miss it.

If you mean that the group of old white men currently has some sort of hegemony on the ranks of head coaches, and schools rarely think to hire coaches who haven't already been head coaches - I mean, you're obviously right, but sometimes schools will make somebody's assistant coach their head coach. Gene Chizik's got a new job now, but I doubt Iowa State would have grabbed this Shannon guy, even if he was there when Miami was in the championship hunt every year (was he?).

Now, I'm not saying every school should try to find a token black coach; I think one of the best things the Lions have done in my lifetime was to ignore the Affirmative Action Coach Interviewing rules a few years ago, when they obviously wanted Mooch and decided not to subject a random black coach to a sham of an interview.

But Shanoff's not wrong when he says that it's a damn shame that the system almost prohibits black coaches. I don't think it's an easy fix, but I'd have to agree it's broken.

Where do the great minority candidates go? They go to the NFL when noone in college will even give them a sniff. Or they go to I-AA and have great success. Is it a race issue? Partly. I also think its the fear by most universities to hire someone without HC experience. Most minority candidates dont have it...because they aren't given chances... etc. It's a cycle.

There will always be talk about the inherent racism in the treatment of Willingham. And it's probably with reason. (though not a ton of reason, i agree his firing was MOSTLY due to performance. But I think his race led to less patience by the boosters)

rafael, gotta disagree with you there. From NDs perspective, Weis has taken the football team to a BCS bowl in both years he's been head coach. Money, money, money. He's making the school money and the school is paying him.

I'd say the extension is VERY justified when you look at it from that VERY realistic perspective.

Is it just that teams are scheduling tougher opponents, looking down the road to impressing the NCAA Selection Committee?

Of course it is, Dan. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that one. The NCAA selection committee has made it abundantly clear that if a team wants to be considered for an at large bid, schedule some tough nonconference games. They do not look kindly on teams that fill up their early schedule with nothing but cupcakes.

I watched the game last night also. I don't know what it says about me that I was more interested in watching that game instead of the ND vs. Alabama game.

That being said, Nolan Smith was good, but I also thought Al-Farouq Aminu was a very talented player (and he's only 16). I think they said there were about 10 D 1-A player in the game. Very impressive. And a very good game.

In the style of Dan and the Quickie: If Bonds were on my team....I. Would. Not. Root. For. Him. Ever.I'd probably sever my ties with the organization, write a letter to the team and move on to more classy climes.

In the style of Dan and the Quickie: If Bonds were on my team....I. Would. Not. Root. For. Him. Ever.I'd probably sever my ties with the organization, write a letter to the team and move on to more classy climes.

eric... from what I can tell, the cable companies are winning the battle against the NFL network PR campaign. I don't see that changing if the NFL continues demanding the 70 cent subscriber fee (higher than most any other cable network; and certainly the highest any non-premium network would demand before even debuting (by a good 50 cents or so). If they dropped it to 20 cents, and increased their subscriber number 10-fold (not unreasonable), they would be making money (much). And then start increasing your demands every year, in 5 years you could have the 70-cent, 70 million person network you desire (rather than the 70-cent, 7 million network they have now...).

As for Spector and the legislation, I'd like to see it be successful, but how many lawmakers does the NFL and DirecTV have on its payroll? That's the question in determining whether specter's bill will have legs.

For now, I'll just continue going to a sports bar on sundays, and skipping football on Thursday's (unless the steelers are on, and then it's back to the bar...).

Weiss extension is based on the fact that he performed in year one, has four super bowl rings, has been a coordinator in the NFL for 15+ years under some of the greatest football minds ever...Willingham has never been a coordinator, never had a full year of success (going back to consistency) and is now proving in Washington that he is a good coach but cannot keep his team motivated throughout an entire season of play and will always be close to being great but just can't seem to get there. He is a great guy though, can motivate when he wants to but just wasn't the leader and great football mind that weiss is. The contract is basically to lock him up and keep him happy - if he starts shitting the bed they can just fire him (although I doubt that will happen). After their first two seasons, Weiss has blown away what Willingham did.

Here's why I disagree with the Lions decision on the sham interview. It's a matter of personal pride, but as anyone who's looking for a job knows - GO ON ANY INTERVIEW YOU CAN. It's practice for one, and, more importantly, there's enough shared communication around the league to say... hey black coach x interviewed really well. (I believe that's one of the reasons that Willie Randolph had trouble getting a job, he was a bad interview - I don't know what that means in terms of professional sports)As much as I hate Herm Edwards as a Jet fan, I think he made the same comment, take whatever chance you are offered, maybe Matt Millon has a conversation with the AC @ MSU or something... The more interviews you go on, the more likely you are to get a job. That's why the NFL instituted the rules. You can argue it's reverse discrimination, but how many jobs in the NFL went without a single white person interviewing. (Yes, I know there are Asian, Latin, Jewish, etc.. etc... coaches - but one step at a time.)

1) i know that i wouldnt root for barry bonds if he signed with the indians or reds...but i don't think i'd root AGAINST him the way that i do now

2) Thanks to the 26-pt head start you just gave me in the first round of the fantasy football playoffs, Mr. Parker. Now i'm not sad I forgot to bench you for Frank Gore. (Yes, my other RB is Tomlinson)

3) someone commented about being closer to a 16-seed knocking off a 1-seed...i don't think we're any closer to that, because the 16 seeds will always be weak teams that won their even weaker conferences. The reason you see 12s knocking off 5s is that often, the 12s are those last teams from maor conferences that just got in.

"And when he comes to Fenway this year and I many other fans are going to BOO him until he goes home and crys"

I would say it would be a lot better if Fenway fell completely silent. No reaction at all. No boos, obviously no cheers, just nothing. Disinterest. For a guy who professes to hate the media and hate all the attention he gets, Bonds certainly knows how to manipulate the coverage and get in front of a camera when he needs to.

@ sheldiz:

"i still have my rafael palmeiro jersey, i've come to terms with it."

I'm not sure what stranger about that comment - that you still own the Palmeiro jersey, or that you ever owned one in the first place... :)

XcDannon: The reason you see 12s knocking off 5s is that often, the 12s are those last teams from maor conferences that just got in.

2006Texas A&MMontana

2005UW-Milwaukee

2004ManhattanPacific

2003Butler

2002MissouriCreightonTulsa

2001GonzagaUtah St.

2000NO 12 Seed Won

Of the 24 5 Vs. 12 games played since 2001 the 12 seed has won 11 of them, only 2 of the 11 winning 12 seeds were from the Big 6. I think the reason the 12 seed wins is because they are often the regular season winner in their small/mid major conference. These teams are usually pretty underrated

As for the Giants being a draw on the road because of Bonds. I don't really see how. He's going to be a step slower and a split second later in reacting than last year, he'll need that much more rest, all making him not really worth going to see in general.

Now maybe IF he gets within 2 or 3 of the record there will be a surge in attendance, but once (IF) he passes the mark that would pretty much kill any further interest in Mr. Bonds and his team.

I'd like to thank marcosquared for telling me I am and what I'm not...and for telling me how I should root and what constitutes being a fan and what doesn't. I never knew until today. You are the gospel.

i bought it literally two weeks before he got busted. i obviously don't support him or what he did... but maybe it'll be a cool retro ironic conversation piece my kids can wear one day.... maybe? okay maybe not.

kegdoctor said... I'd like to thank marcosquared for telling me I am and what I'm not...and for telling me how I should root and what constitutes being a fan and what doesn't. I never knew until today. You are the gospel.

Yup. Marco knows all. On the 8th day, God created Marco and his knowledge on what constitutes being a sports fan.

I have to agree with dan that I wold root for bonds if he came to my team. Hell I would buy a bonds jersey and wear it with pride as my d-rays got destroyed once again. Personally I think bonds is an asshole but the man knows how to play the game and with a young team like the devil rays he might have actually taught those guys a thing or two about how to play the game right as well as give them a few pointers on how to get away with cheating. As my dad says I am morally bereft and I have no problem having a shady cheater on my team. All I care about is whether or not we win and if bonds could have helped us do that I would laud him as the second coming. We all know he cheated so even if he breaks a record there will always be an sterisk in our minds regarding him and his fellow roid uses.

Sheldiz – The appropriate standard has nothing to do with how many blacks play college football. That makes no sense whatsoever. Did Bill Belicheck play in the NFL? No. But he’s still the best coach out there. What I’m trying to say is we all have the ability to coach college football – it doesn’t matter if we played or not. So the pool of comparison is the population at large, not the players who play the game. Anything else is just silly. (and would be subscribing to some sort of misnomer).

Nyc –steelers – My point is people aren’t making the decisions on race. They go with what they know (conformity). This guy was the coach there, or this other guy was recommended by the outgoing guy (like at Wisconsin and Bielema). It isn’t race – race was a factor in some way, but not a conscious one (Barry was friends with Bielema, and race/culture may have had something to do with that, etc.). I just don’t think it is as big of a conspiracy as some people think. Like Sheldiz, people see so many blacks playing the game and wonder why they are taking orders from whites in such disproportionate numbers. Well, being black or white doesn’t matter for coaching, but there is a smaller number of blacks (proportionally) than whites who are eligible to be coaches rather than players (because, let’s face it, blacks seem to be stronger/faster/more athletic, in general, than whites in this country). And, yes, that last sentence was awful, but I think you’ll get my point…

BONDS – Let’s not forget that he isn’t just a cheat. He’s the biggest dick in all of sports. Nobody likes him. Nobody. I’m not talking about fans. I’m talking about media, players, coaches, TEAMMATES. If the Brewers went out and paid the money for Bonds, knowing that he’s just playing for a record, doesn’t give a shit about anyone but himself, won’t go any extra mile for his team, and is a known cheater, yes, I think it is totally justified to abandon your team. Because at that point, the team is only thinking of dollars it could generate, rather than improving the team or making the team more enjoyable for its fans. It’s like giving the fanbase the finger. Bonds could ONLY have signed in SF – where he had a history with the fans. That’s why I can’t fathom 16 million. The Giants were bidding against themselves!

Not quite against themselves the devil rays offered bonds a contract which supposedly he laughed at. I just hope andrew friedman doesnt do something retarded like trade baldelli or one of our many up and coming outfielders for a shaky fifth starter or a middle reliever with an arm weaker than mine.

No, Eric, you're right, I haven't studied antitrust law. I thought harm to the consumer was important in the Microsoft case and thought that was the applicable yardstick. By that measure, it seems that blackouts and high videogame prices hurt consumers more than making a premium package exclusive.

But obviously, I don't understand how the "antitrust exemption" works and why they have one anyway.

eric -- allow me to gloss over bill belicheck being "the best coach out there" and jump right in to my point... do you have to have played college ball to be a coach? no, of course not. however, i imagine if you polled every football coach in the country, you would find that more of them than not have had some sort of playing experience (be it high school, college, pro, etc.).

That was my point. To me it doesn't make sense to use society as a whole as the population sample. The population as a whole doesn't even have an interest in football or in this day and age, the ability to be selected to coach. So if you start peeling away the layers -- no women, no people that hate football, no blind people, etc etc etc... you get a smaller and smaller sample. So, i my opinion, the sample to use for discussion would be those who have played football. In which case, the percetange of black men in that sample would be higher than the percentage of black men in the U.S, in general.

Willingham was the first coach in ND history to get fired. Every previous coach was allowed to finish their contract then let go. Weis got his contract extensive during his first year - prior to any BCS Bowls - after a 3-0 start. Willingham started 8-0 at ND and received nothing for his efforts. That is definitely disparity (whether it is racial or not is a larger conversation) in treatment of the coaches.

Willingham is very mum in all aspects, especially the media whereas Weis prostrates himself to the media and I think ND likes that.

Am I the only one who just wants to see Bonds' knee quite literally explode? Preferebly before he gets out of spring training?

I mean, this guy is worse then TO in every immaginable way. He's more overpaid, has a worse work ethic, takes more plays off, is worse to the fans and media...I mean, he's a pit. When people talk about Hank Aaron, you hear about how he's a class act. I don't wanna have to someday tell my kids about what Bonds, Mr. Home Run King, was like.

Sour grapes from the Dodgers. Boras (as much as I hate his guts), is no dummy, and he knew he could get MUCH more then 3/33 in the market (there was not that many powerhitting OF types after the first 1 or 2 in the market).

He went to the Dodgers and said "Listen, we can either re-do the deal, or we can use the clause that you let us put in the contract that let's us opt-out, but we're not going to let the contract stand."

The Dodgers didn't re-do the contract, so Boras was able to get Drew to opt-out.

Sheldiz - again, you're incorrect in your sample. If even one person has the ability to coach even though that person hasn't played football (and I'm sure you could find one, because I know plenty of women I'd rather have making crucial game time decisions than Mike McCarthy) then your sample is incorrect.

If you could somehow get data showing all the poeple who are interested in the game you would use that population. However, that's not likely to happen. On the other hand, using U.S. demographics as a whole isn't a bad way to measure it (given the enormous popularity of the sport across demographics). That's the only reasonable comparison. People who are elligible for the job as a percent express in race and transfer that to the percentage actually employed in that field. Any stats prof would tell you this...

Back when Bonds could still move, I thought it would have been interesting if he broke the record on an inside-the-park home run. Then there couldn't be a mob scene trying to retrieve the ball....the catcher would have it in his mitt a second too late after Bonds slid home. But at this point, you'd have to have a "Claudell Washington falling into the seats for Bill Buckner" - type event for Bonds to get all the way around. Come to think of it, if it's an inside-the-parker like that for 756, can the fan sell the clumsy outfielder on eBay?

pssst....ndyanks, you keep spelling your coach's last name wrong. (shhh!)

Does anyone else think the field at Heinz last night looked pretty bad and chewed up? If it had been raining it would have been just as bad as Foxboro. I almost wonder if there'll come a time when FieldTurf is required.

SF knew the PR hit it would've taken had Bonds left, which was in my mind why they totally overpaid for him. Then again when Gil Meche and Ted Lilly get 10-mil-plus...But the Giants knew letting him go would've been the worst thing ever given the loyalty of their fan base for him. Imagine rooting for a guy for 15 years who breaks the HR record in another uniform because the team wouldn't sign him.

He's a one-trick pony anymore, and I wonder how long he will last this season having to play the outfield. 16 million is a lot for a guy who will either homer, single (because he can't run-then will clog up the bases because he can only run station-to-station) or draw walks, and will more than likely miss a minimum of 50 games because of injury.

Bama has just officially hired Rich Rodriguez as their new coach. Hells yeah. Between John Parker Wilson, a talented offensive line with another year of experience and the flat out speed of Jimmy Johns Bama's offense could be awesome. I just hope R^2 keeps Joe Kines as his DC.

Weiss got a contract extension so early because ND was afraid he'ld jump right back to the NFL. According to Don Banks of SI, there's a buyout clause in his contract that is 2 mill for every year left on the deal. So it will still cost 10 mill to buy his contract out half way through.

Even as an ND fan I think it rather curious that Willingham was fired so quickly. Hell, they kept Bob Davie for 5 years. But I think it was more of wanting to get Urban Meyer who was an assistant to Lou Holtz at ND. When he turned them down, they snatched up one of the hot names in the NFL and then extended him fairly quickly knowing he could jump to the NFL just as fast.

eric -- i see what you're saying. i think we're just approaching the percentage differently, which is fine. i do think that there are some racial issues to be discussed regarding hiring and promoting practices in the NCAA, with or without a discussion of the percentage employed as related to the percent of the population.

Sheldiz - right - there are issues, but it isn't nearly as bad as people make it out to be. I think its a latent racist behavior, rather than something outright, which would be, of course, even more egregious...

As someone who knows statistics, it's clear that likely candidates for a NCAA coaching job are not going to include ME. It's former coaches and players, and that's pretty much it, and any judge in a discrimination case would use qualified applicants, not the population as a whole for the basis of comparison.

We're really just talking about the popular, multimillion dollar programs, who will ALWAYS choose someone with job experience.

What the NCAA really should have is that the coaches and the players tend to be about the same ethnicity as a percentage. It's not like all the players in the 70s were white. We should have more minority coaches by now.

There's clearly a lag, here, and the control population is women's sports: it's not like women's sports have as many female coaches as female players (like 90% to 100%). So we could also easily argue it's sexism that there are 1-10% male coaches in women's college b-ball and 0% female coaches.

I can't believe anyone would claim that Willingham did poorly at Washington this year. The Huskies finished with 3-4 more wins than most people thought they would, not to mention defeating rival WSU in the Apple Cup. Not too shabby, considering they had to play the second half of the season without their starting QB, around whom the offense was designed!

UW started strong, but they had a tough stretch of games (@USC, OSU, @CAL, ASU, @ORE). If they win one of those they probably go to a bowl (because they would have been more confident going against STAN - although that's still inexcusable). Ty needed to coach them to one of those wins and he didn't. Close in most of them, but kept falling short. Willingham should be able to lift the program to the top half of the Pac-10, but it'll never be what it was.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.